Harrogate’s newly-renovated Crimple has appointed a new executive chef.
Tim Kitchen started his first head chef role in 2013 at D&D in Leeds and has worked in various venues across Yorkshire since.
Mr Kitchen has moved to Harrogate from Skipton’s Keelham Farm Shop — a success story Crimple is keen to replicate.
This new chef joins shortly after Crimple, previously known as Crimple Hall, completed a £6 million investment. It now has a 20,000 square foot food hall, 150-seat restaurant and private events space plus a garden centre and gift hall,
The food hall has an in-house bakery, 12-metre butcher’s counter and chef-cooked ready meals. All the food and produce is locally sourced and fresh.
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Graham Watson, the owner of Crimple, said:
‘”We are incredibly excited to bring Tim aboard the Crimple team. We’re passionate about supporting local and can’t wait for Tim to weave his creativity and passion into our menus.
“With late night dining launching imminently and a big focus on private events in 2022, there’s lots to do but with Tim at the helm we know the food will triumph.”
Mr Kitchen added:
Sneak Peek: Crimple Hall opens after £6 million investment“I’m looking forward to this next chapter in my culinary journey.
“With all the buzz around the re-launch of Crimple I can’t wait to get started.
“I am truly excited about the opportunity to meet customers and help make their dining experience unforgettable.”
Crimple Hall is finally ready to swing open its doors to the public this weekend with a well-stocked food hall, plenty of Christmas goodies and the plants it is known for.
Many locals will know Crimple Hall as a garden centre but over the past year it has had a huge investment to make to add on a food hall, restaurant and event space.
The food hall has an in-house bakery, 12-metre butcher’s counter and chef cooked ready meals. All the food and produce is locally sourced and fresh.
The food hall
Director of Operations, Keren Shaw, said they wanted to make Crimple Hall a destination for local people; somewhere they can shop and eat:
“We want to be a hub for the community. It’s an incredibly unique place to the area. We use local producers, we have our own in-house bakery too. We’re really excited to get it open and have people in.
It’s great to have seen it go from a shell to now living and breathing it.”
A few people have been invited down this week but this weekend is when it will open fully. Visitors can expect plenty of food and lots of Christmas decorations.
The food hall is based in a 20,000 sq ft space and has an industrial feel with its distinctive peaked roof.
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Christmas has arrived at Crimple Hall. There’s everything from trees to lights to robot polar bears!
Ms Shaw said the whole concept was environmentally-focused from the solar panels on the roof to Crimple’s very own milk float where people can come back with their glass bottles to re-fill.
In the future, the team is hoping to add glass bee hives to provide honey for the food hall.
So far the new venue has opened up around 60 new job opportunities to the local area.
The 160-seater restaurant welcomed its first customers today.
The restaurant and garden centre will open 8- 5pm, and bar until 7pm. The food hall will open 8-7pm and on Sunday all areas are open 10-4pm.
Crimple Hall in Harrogate has appointed a director of food and drink to oversee a new restaurant as part of a £4 million refurbishment.
The family-owned business run by Graham and Tori Watson is expected to re-open in November.
The 19,525 sq ft food hall, restaurant, bistro and event space will seat over 160 people and offer indoor and outdoor event spaces for weddings, parties and corporate events.
Zak Jones, the former owner of The Chancery and The Clerkenwell Dining Room in London, has been hired to head up the restaurant.
As well as experience of running his own restaurant, Mr Jones has also worked alongside Marco Pierre White as general manager at L’Escargot in Greek Street Soho.
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Alongside the restaurant will be a 7,500 square feet food hall and the existing garden centre. The investment has lead to the creation of 60 jobs.
Mr Jones said:
“This is an incredible opportunity to build a first class restaurant with access to the best produce in the region and beyond.
“We have some really exciting plans for this remarkable venue and, as such, I am now looking for excellent restaurant team members to join me.”
The food hall will be open from 8am to 7pm. The restaurant and garden centre will open between 8am and 5pm – with the bar open until 7pm.
Employee stole from Harrogate garden centre for more than a yearA former employee of a garden centre in Harrogate who stole cash from it for more than a year has been ordered to pay back a sum of money.
Michael Stuart, 64, of Swarcliffe Road, Harrogate, took cash from Crimple Hall on Leeds Road in Pannal between July 2019 and October 2020.
North Yorkshire Magistrates Court, sitting at Harrogate Justice Centre last week, ordered Stuart to pay £500 in compensation to Graham Watson, the managing director of Crimple Hall.
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The court also gave Stuart until June 2022 to complete 100 hours of supervised unpaid work.
Crimple Hall condemned its former employee in posts on its social media channels.
The posts said:
“Please meet a Mr Michael Stuart a once trusted and well-paid employee who repaid that benevolence by systematically stealing over a long period of time from Crimple Hall garden centre.”
The company also tweeted that it was taking action to reclaim money that had been stolen.